September 1, 2008Man Riding ATV Dies At Badlands Off Road Park Steven Mynhier, a 50-year-old resident of LaGrange, IN, died at 3:20 p.m. on Sunday, August 31, 2008 in the Badlands Off Road Park of Attica, IN. He was reported to have died from injuries sustained in an ATV accident at the park. According to witnesses, his ATV hit a rock, overturned and threw him off. The ATV came to land on top of Mr. Mynhier. His death has been ruled accidental.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Mynhier, his family, and friends.

New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park in Burlington CountyThe park located in the Chatsworth area officially closed with the last ride yesterday, August 31, 2008. The New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Park was opened for riding for 10 years, but now the agreement that made the park possible has ended and it does not appear that it will be extended or renewed. The park has a posting about its closure on it's Website regarding the closure. This park represented the only legal public riding area in the state of New Jersey.

August 7, 2008
We continue to add Off Road Parks & ATV Trails - even while we are in the midst of a complete site re-design! Check out the latest Alabama ATV Trails and Off Road Trails that we've added!

July 27, 2008Big Changes Coming To Off Road Parks & ATV Trails - In the next coming weeks, we'll be making a series of changes to make this site more user friendly. We'll start posting all of our off road public land issues onto the blog completely, so you'll be able to stay informed using a Blog Reader. We're adding more and more ATV Trails and Off Road Parks. In the future we'll let you know what states we've added them and the names of the parks on our home page. And more. This week we've added listings ATV Trails for Alabama and Illinois.

July 22, 2008New Additions To The Offroad Trails Listings - More Coming Very Soon Along With New Article Postings!

June 22, 2008Black Hills National Forest Off-Limits Trails Damaged by Law Breakers!A couple of morons made OHV enthusiasts look bad recently in th eBlack Hills National Forest. According to one newspaper article "The calls by the Forest Service for off highway vehicles to stay on established roads went unheeded Saturday, as five vehicles became stuck on Forest Service land, causing extensive damage."

The call came in last weekend that several pickups were stuck in deep mud, and that a lot of ground was torn up. Spearfish District Ranger Rhonda O'Byrne was notified about the situation.Apparently onbe or two trucks got stuck, called tgheir buddies and they got stuck. Before you knew it, they had 5 vehicles stuck and the ground was mush. The big problem is that the original idiots that styarted the whole problem drove right by a sign that prohibited driving. Well to go numbskulls for giving us all a black eye. I only hope they caight you and fine the he-- out of you!

All of this makes the Recreration Manager very upset, and in the futurem, when she is wavering between favoring OHVs or going against them I wonder which way she'll decide?! This issue has upset some of those who have been working with the Forest Service with the travel management plan. As Eric Hunt, a representative of the South Dakota Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition group, put it, this is just a very small group ruining it for the rest. I would like to add a small group of morons!

Apparently the idiotic lawbreakers will be at least fined $275.00, but we don;t feel that it is enough!

June 10 , 2008Paragon Park Death AssuredThe PA state apellate court upheld the eviction of the off road park from land that will be used to build an industrial transportation center. The state Superior Court said that Paragon's owner, Kyle Knosp, failed to file a timely appeal the 2006 ruling that granted possession of the land to Gladstone Partners. The ruling reaffirms Gladstone’s right to utilize roughly 4,300 acres near the Humboldt Industrial Park. While this dooms the off road park from re-opening, it does not guarantee that the transportation facility will be built as the developers still ned to deal with construction and funding issues. It seems that we have seen the last of Paragon Park.

Once Again Cape Cod National Seashore Closes Off AccessSuperintendent George Price announced Friday that the three beach access points to the ORV trail system are closed to protect piping plovers. In order to dance around the rule in the park’s 2007 ORV Environmental Assessment, the seashore will open a section of the ORV corridor at Coast Guard Beach in Truro to 24-hour access for ORV operators with current ORV permits. Seems that is all that is necessary to comply with the ordinance and close the mnajority of the system down.

New Military All-Terrain Vehicle: the ELSORVELSORV or Enhanced Logistic Off Road Vehicle - Sgt. Lance Davis says it will go anywhere. Its being tested in Afghaistan. Wonder how it would hol dup to our rock crawling buggies?

Forest Service Decision is in on Tellico - It Aint Good!The Forest Service released its initial proposal for the long-term management of the Upper Tellico OHV system, currently comprising 39.5 miles of trails, on Monday. This study reportedly follows a study period of 11 months which were filled with controversy, legal threats, and other enviro-wacko nonsense regarding how the trail system should be managed. The new proposal calls for reducing the trail system by almost half (15.5 miles) by closing two trails (we do not have the details at this sitme, but we're very concerned over which trails will be closed) and trimming back some on several others. It also proposes a complete trail system closure from January 1st through March 31 of every year and, short-term trail closures following large amounts of rain. That should be great for people that have to plan to travel to go trail riding! This was one of the nation’s top off road spots, but it looks like all of that will change. Looks like we lose again.

Pressure On Nevada To Put In Place ATV Registration System
Nevada is the last of the Western states to not have a registration program for off road vehicles. Well that might be coming to an end as a coalition of ranchers, sportsmen, conservationists and law enforcement authorities recently urged a state panel to initiate such a program. Talking head politician, State Sen. Dean Rhoads, whoc is chairman of the Nevada Legislative Committee on Public Lands, said the panel would consider drafting legislation after a final meeting of the year in August. At a recent hearing in Elko, supporters of an ORV registration propgram said that a minority of irresponsible off roaders are tearing up Nevada's landscape and prompting a need for a registration program for ATVs, dirt bikes and all other off road vehicles. Other attempts to pass legislation establishing a registration program were attempted but failed in 2007, 2005 and 2003.

May 11, 2008ATV World Record AttemptThe ATV Association of Minnesota (ATAVM) is going to attempt to break the World Record for the world's longest ATV Parade on June 14, 2008 at Silver Bay. The record is currently held by Harlan County, Kentucky where they had 1,138 ATVs in a parade! ATVAM encourages all ATV enthusiasts to join them in their celebration of the 25th anniversary of their fine organization, and an attempt at breaking the record. They are shooting for 2,500 ATVs. To register to assist in htis record breaking attempt go to http://www.atvparade.org

New Florida ATV Law July 1, 2008 a new law in Florida will be enforced by The Department of Agriculture (huh?). The law requires anyone under the age of 16 to complete an ATV safety training course and pass. They will earn a certificate from passing the course, which will be necessary for them to operate an OHV on public land. THe law only applies to public property owned by the State of Florida, Florida county owned property and Florida city owned property.

More and more of these types of laws are on the way all over the country.

Honda Recalls ATVs2008 Honda TRX500 ATVs have been recalled because of a defect that could cause them to lose steering control. The potential steering defect, which affects about 1,400 TRX500 ATVs, has not resulted in any reported injuries to date. These Honda ATVs were sold nationwide from Oct 2007 through March 2008. Apparently the electric power steering shaft of the recalled can potentially break, resulting in the rider losing steering control. It is reported that people should stop using these recalled ATVs immediately and contact a Honda ATV dealer for a free repair. You can obtain additional information from Honda toll-free at 866-784-1870 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacfic Time Monday through Friday, or you can read about it at www.powersports.honda.com

May 6, 2008Getting a real demanding job just blows!

Sorry I've been away this long. I've got a very demanding job at the end of a long commute and it is killing me! I'm going to make an effort to get back with my posts to help in the off-road battles with the greenies. I see that the press and the lobbyists have turned up the heat on ATVs while I'm gone. Onto some posts!

Yet Another ATV Abuse/Misuse Article - Virginai This Time Are you noticing a pattern? This seems orchestrated to me. The heat is being turned up and we as a group had better react to it. People I'm telling you, we're either going to police our group's lawbreakers ourselves, or the politicians are going to outlaw ATVs. Its our choice! The antis are not going to stop and they have the press on their side.

Cape Hatteras Battle Nears End, Or Does It?On April 30th U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle ruled to accept a proposed consent decree that sets restrictions on access and beach driving on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The consent decree had been proposed to Judge Boyle by attorneys on both sides of the issue as a compromise solution between those who wanted beach access preserved for recreational use and those who wanted all access banned.

Warren Judge, Chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners was quoted as saying, "The long standing position of our Board is to support free and open access to all users of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The efforts of Defenders of Wildlife and National Audubon to restrict or deny access to America's beaches by the public are shameful. The Dare County Board of Commissioners agreed to accept the consent decree, and we will participate fully in the Negotiated Rule Making process to develop a management plan for ORV use and access for all to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore."

In accepting the consent decree, Judge Boyle endes a lawsuit brought by two environmental groups against the National Park Service (NPS) in October, 2007. The decree becomes legally binding and enforceable against the parties and specifies that a final ORV management plan must be implemented no later than April 1, 2011.

I have other posts and will get to them as soon as I can. It is sad to see that our situation has not improved during my absence. Looks like it will be a summer of battles.

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